Punjab: 4 held for running inter-state pharma drug cartel from prison

PTI, Jan 31, 2023, 3:33 PM IST

Four persons, including two jail inmates, were arrested for running an inter-state pharmaceutical drug cartel from a prison, police said on Tuesday. As many as 5.31 lakh pharma opioids were also recovered from their possession, they said.

Those arrested have been identified as Sunny Kumar of Ludhiana and Ranjit Singh alias Rinku of Ludhiana, while, Eshaan Gupta and Ravi Kumar were brought on production warrant from Central Jail Ludhiana, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ropar Range, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said.

He said during a special checking, the Fatehgarh Police on January 23, arrested Sunny Kumar after recovering 19,590 intoxicant tablets from his possession.

SSP Fatehgarh Sahib Dr Ravjot Grewal said during questioning, the accused had revealed that he was supplying the intoxicant tablets to customers allegedly on the directions of Eshaan Gupta and Ravi Kumar, who contacted him using mobile phones from Ludhiana Central Jail. An FIR in this regard has been registered in Ludhiana, she said.

Following their disclosure, police had brought both the accused persons on a production warrant, she added. The police have also recovered a mobile phone, which they were using in the prison. Bhullar said both the accused have revealed that they got pharma drug supplies from Ranjit Rinku who was also arrested on Saturday. ”On accused Ranjit Rinku’s disclosures, the Police teams have recovered 3.60 lakh tablets of Lomotil and 1.51 lakh tablets of Tramadol from pinpointed locations in Ludhiana,” he added in a statement.

Grewal said they have procured police remand of accused Ranjit Rinku and further investigations are on to find out the main supplier. More recoveries are expected, she added.

Earlier, an FIR was registered on January 23 at Police Station Gobindgarh, Fatehgarh Sahib.